Calculating machine



y 1937. E. F. BRITTEN, JR 2,088,049

CALCULATING MACHINE Filed March 20, 1956 fHO,

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Patented July 27, 1937 PATENT OFFICE CALCULATING MACHINE Edwin F. Britten, Jr., Short Hills, N.-J., assignor to Monroe Calculating Machine Company,

Orange, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application March 20, 1936, Serial No. 69,832

3 Claims.

The invention relates to calculating machines, and more particularly to improved means for shifting the register carriage of such a machine.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as set forth in the appended claims. I

In the accompanying drawing illustrating the invention:

Fig. l is a right side elevation of a carriage shifting worm and rack, with associated parts.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the same, two reversely threaded worms being shown.

The invention is shownas applied to carriage shifting means of the type disclosed in the U. S.

' patent to Austin A. Overbury, No. 1,964,478, en-

titled Calculating machine, and issued on June 26, 1934. Such means comprise two reversely threaded worms, for shifting the register carriage to the right or to the left, together with means for alternatively connecting one or the other worm with a source of power, the worms being mounted in the base of the machine, and cooperating with the rack fixed to the register carriage. The carriage is also capable of being shifted .by direct manual movement from one position to another.

According to the present disclosure, a register carriage, movable transversely along a supporting rod 4", is provided with a transverse rail 412, having lugs supporting a rod 413. The shifting rack is composed of tooth sections 419, independently pivoted on the rod 413, and spaced apart by suitable washers. Springs 414 hold the tooth sections 419 normally in contact with the bar 412, so that collectively they form a rack intersecting the paths of movement of rev'ersely threaded worms 411, 418. These worms are loosely mounted on a shaft 416, and are adapted to 'be clutched to said shaft by means of cyclic clutches 480, 481 of ,well known design. Shaft 416 is connected in well known manner with the driving motor of the machine, and the clutching of the respective worm to the shaft is effected by releasing movements of a lever 499 or 499. Worm 411 when clutched to shaft .416 will receive clockwise movement as viewed in Fig. 1,

and by contact of the worm with a tooth 419 will move the register carriage'one step toward the right. If more than one rotation is given to the worm, the carriage will be moved one or more additional steps to the right, by action of the worm on successive teeth 419 of the rack Worm 418 is adapted for rotation in the same direction as worm 411, and the action will be similar,-

except that the carriage will be shifted toward the left. Springs 414 are of suflicient strength to .prevent pivotal displacement of the teeth 419 because of their edgewise contact with the worm.

The threads of the worms 411, 418 do not extend 360 degrees around their hubs, a slot 415 being left between the two ends of the thread through which the rack teeth 419 may pass freely, when the worm is in its normal unclutched position. Because of the slots in the worm threads, the register carriage may be moved transversely by hand, into any desired position, and it therefore happens occasionally that an operator may laterally displace the carriage and fail to bring it into its proper aligned position. In this case one of the teeth 419 will lie in front of the leading edge of the thread of the shifting worm, so that, where a rigid, one-piece rack is employed, the motor will be violently stopped because of the interference of the rack with the worm. According to the present invention however a tooth 419 located in front of the leading edge of a worm 411 will yield pivotally when said worm is started,'until the thread of the worm comes to the space between the teeth, at which time the worm will engage the edge of the next tooth 419 and will move the carriage into its correct aligned position. It will be noted that the tooth 419 which effects this partial shifting of the carriage lies in the path of movement of the worm throughout the operation, and that the tooth 419 which had been displaced by the thread of the worm may return freely to its normal position as soon as it is released, since there is no further pressure of the worm tending to holdit away from the rail 412. Pivoted, onepiece rackshave' heretofore been employed in carriage shifting mechanisms, but in case of pivotal displacement of such a rack by the worm the automatic completion of 'the shifting movement is dependent upon a rapid dropping of the rack into normal position. when the tooth space registers with the thread, this movement also being likely to encounter frictional resistance against the edge of the rack tooth. It may be further noted that the worms 411, 418, obtaining theiropposite shifting efiect on the carriage ing spaced, normally alignedyoaxially'pivoted tooth sections, each of a length slightly less than the pitch of the worm.

2. In a calculating machine provided with a 5 transversely shiftable register carriage, carriage shifting means including a worm, a sectional rack engaged by said worm and comprising spaced, coaxially pivotedtooth sections, each of a length slightly less than the pitch of the worm, springs 10 engaging said sections, and a rail adapted to hold the sections, against the tension of their springs, in alignment to form arack intersecting the path of movement of the worm.

3. In a calculating machine provided with a EDWIN F. BRITTEN, JR. 

